Information Commissioner's Office

North East Wales Institute of Higher Education

3 July 2008, Education (College)

The complainant requested a copy of a report on the public authority’s engineering department, written by an external assessor. The public authority refused to release the full report, citing the exemptions at sections 40, 41 and 43 of the Act. The authority did however provide the complainant with information that related specifically to the complainant. The authority stated that the report was provided to it in confidence and that disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. The Commissioner has decided, in this case, that the authority applied the Act appropriately by refusing the request by virtue of section 41. The Commissioner has also decided that parts of the report constitute the personal data of third parties, the disclosure of which would breach the data protection principles. In addition, the Commissioner decided that the authority breached section 17 of the Act in its initial response. Information Tribunal appeal number (EA/2008/0063) has been dismissed.

FOI 41: Not upheld